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jeudi 12 janvier 2012

Poison vs. Medicine

Discuss how the motif  is seen throughout Romeo and Juliet.

6 commentaires:

  1. "Within this infant rind of this weak flower poison hath residence and medicine power."(2.3)
    "With baleful weeds and precious-juiced flowers. The earth that's nature's Mother is her tomb.(2.3)
    "The sweetest honesy is loathesome in its deliciousness and in the taste confounds the appetite."(2.6)
    "Take thou this vial, being then in bed, And this distilling liquor drink thou off; when presently through all thou vains shall run a cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse shall keep his native progress, but surcease; no warmth, no breath, shal testify thou livest."(4.1)
    "A dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear as will disperse itself through all the veins that the life-weary taker may fall dead, and that the truck may be discharged of breath as violently as hasty powder fired doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb."(5.2)

    At the beginning of the play, herbs and other potions all seem harmless, although we know they can be deadly and fatal. As the play progresses, mentions of such things are used in a harmful and violent connotation. Their hardships and family feuds make them lean more towards the option of taking poison. When they meet and are together, they need the medicine to bring happiness. But as the fights and seperations bring more hardships and difficulties, poison seems like an only choice. Romeo and Juliet need to constantly choose between poison, to end all emotional pain and hardships, or medicine, to heal and bring peace.

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  2. Medicine vs. Poison is an important motif in the famous play Romeo and Juliet.

    "Poison hath residence and medicine power/For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part;/Being tasted, stays all senses with the part." (2.3)
    'This' is a plant that has the power both to heal and kill. If a person smells it, it's pleasant and harmless. However, if a person digests the plant, it will kill them. Romeo and Juliet are jumping into marriage, which is like the poison. Going slow would be more beneficial to them. It's similar to how the plant can be both beneficial and harmful, like their marriage. This foreshadows their death.

    "Now, ere the sun advance his burning eye/The day to cheer and the might's dank dew to dru,/I must upfill this osier cage of ours/With baleful weeds and precious jucied flowers" (2.3)
    During the balcony scene, Romeo and Juliet discuss how they can only see each other at night because it's hard for people to see Romeo in the dark. The friar says that poisonous plants only come out at night and that the healthful plants come out during the day. Since night is the only time Romeo and Juliet can see each other, this also foreshadows their death.

    "Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp-groud knife,/No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,/But "banish" to kill me--"banished?" (3.3)
    After Romeo kills Tybalt in revenge, he's banished to Mantua. This means he'll be separated from Juliet, who definitely won't or won't be allowed to marry him. Romeo says that his poison is being banished and that is what kills him because he won't be with Juliet anymore. Juliet is his medicine, and without his medicine he will surely die.

    The motif of poison vs. medicine represents Romeo and Juliet's relationship throughout the play. The symbol of the flower is like their marriage, which can either be helpful or harmful. If they hadn't jumped into things, the play might not have ended the way it did. This is the medicinial part of the motif. They did, though, which foreshadowed their death and caused them to kill themselves.

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  3. The motif of poison vs. medicine is important throughout the plot. This motif first shows up in act 2, scene 3, when the friar is gathering plants and herbs. He explains that a certain flower contains poison but has medicinal qualities as well. This represents how Romeo and Juliet believe that love is solving their problems but it is also causing more.

    Another time this motif is shown is when Juliet gets poison from the friar to solve her problems. The poison mimicked the effect of medicine by temporarily solving her problems but acted as a poison because it caused more future problems. Romeo buying poison from the apothecary also contributes to creating a bigger problem. If Romeo had not done this he would have been there when Juliet woke up, then Juliet wouldn't have killed herself.

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  4. The poison represents how Montague and Capulet's fighting poisoned the younger generation into hating each other. The medicine represents Romeo and Juliet's relationship. Their relationship, if it would have been allowed to continue could have healed the family's hatred towards one another, because the familys would have joined together to marry them. After this they could have became allianced with one another instead of constantly fighting because they would have realized how immature their hatred for each other was. In the beggining of the play, thier hatred for each other was childish, because they never thought about murdering each other. Towards the end of the play however, they began to have that feeling, and would have sword fights against each other. In Act 3 when Tybalt accitently kills Mercutio, the childish hate diminishes and they all begin to have severe anger towards each other. On page 848, Benvolio enters the scene again with the news, "O Romeo,Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead! That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds, which too untimely here did scorn the earth.", that Mercutio is dead. Romeo then enraged runs after Tybalt and kills him in cold blood. The counter to all of this hate would be Romeo's relationship with Juliet. I think that their relationship represents the medicine to all of this poison, because of the alliance it could bring between the familys. If Romeo and Juliet had gotten married, Capulet would have to live with the fact that his daughter is in love with Montague's son and they would be forced to make peace. In Act 2, Scene 4 Friar talks about how this marriage would end the fued between Capulets and Montague's. "...For this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households' rancor to pure love." Though because of their arrogance, both Romeo and Juliet died which sent both familys into sorrow. This eventually taught them all a lesson, which showed them how thier fighting was stupid, and that it needed to stop. So in the end, Romeo and Juliet used thier lives as medicine to heal thier familys hatred or poison towards each other.

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  5. In the beginning, this starts out as a small lesson that even helpful things can hurt you. This gradually becomes more and more important throughout the story because Romeo and Juliet are oblivious to every sign showing their mistakes. By the end of the story everything is revolving around this motif and it causes the happy ending to be completely avoided.

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  6. Interesting : The friar says that poisonous plants only come out at night and that the healthful plants come out during the day. Since night is the only time Romeo and Juliet can see each other, this also foreshadows their death.

    Do only poisonour plants come out at night?

    Interesting : Romeo and Juliet used thier lives as medicine to heal their families hatred or poison towards each other.

    Can we 'heal' other people's lives... or can we only empoison them?

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